"Hmm?! What's going on here?"
Grim Elder stood at the edge of the Blood Essence Pool, staring at the faint red water with no Spiritual Energy, feeling something was amiss.
"Something's wrong, the Blood Essence Liquid has been drained for eleven days now, right? It can't possibly recover at all. There's something strange!"
Grim Elder then seemed to think of something and immediately plunged into the Blood Essence Pool with a splash, rushing towards the bottom!
Quickly, he reached the bottom of the Blood Essence Pool and was thoroughly stunned.
The large, intact Blood Essence Crystal that was supposed to be there had disappeared without a trace, leaving only scattered pieces of red crystal at the bottom!
The Blood Essence Crystal has been stolen!
Grim Elder snapped out of it, and this thought immediately surfaced in his mind.
Fear unconsciously welled up in his eyes, and he hurriedly scrambled towards the shore.
"Boom!"
Grim Elder burst out of the Blood Essence Pool, leaping onto the shore, ignoring the need to evaporate the water from his clothes with True Yuan, and hurriedly flew towards the Elder's Grand Hall!
"Hey, where are you going?!"
The kind elder, whom he had sent away, saw Grim Elder flying off dripping wet and couldn't help but shout at his retreating figure.
However, Grim Elder ignored him entirely, solely focused on reporting this monumental matter to the Great Elder.
"Bang!"
Grim Elder soon arrived outside the Great Elder's residence in the Elder's Grand Hall, disregarding any courtesy and kicked the door open.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
The Great Elder of the Blood Sword Sect was startled by Grim Elder's actions, thinking with hindsight that fortunately he wasn't practicing in seclusion, otherwise he might have been thrown into a devilish trance from such disturbance.
"Great Elder, something terrible has happened, it's awful..." Grim Elder did not apologize, his voice full of panic.
"Hmm? What's going on? What happened?"
The Great Elder, hearing him speak so, forgot to blame him and hurriedly asked.
Grim Elder took a breath, saying, "I just went to check the Blood Essence Pool and found that during these past ten days, not a drop of Blood Essence Liquid was added; it felt wrong, so I jumped into the bottom of the pool and discovered... the Blood Essence Crystal is gone!"
"Stolen by someone!" Grim Elder said, crying bitterly.
"What?!"
The Great Elder's expression drastically changed upon hearing Grim Elder's words, as if hearing news of the sudden death of his whole family.
This Blood Essence Pool is of utmost importance, being the foundation of the Blood Sword Sect, an irreplaceable part. If truly gone, the trouble would be immense!
He no longer asked anything and directly rose, flying out of the grand hall toward the mountain where the Blood Essence Pool was.
"Go inform the other Elders and the Sect Leader, I'll go check first!"
Leaving those words behind, the Great Elder's figure vanished from Grim Elder's sight.
Grim Elder, hearing the Great Elder's words, did not hesitate and quickly went to inform the other Elders and Sect Leader, trying to escape from taking responsibility.
Ten minutes later.
Ten Supreme Elders of the Heavenly Sword Faction and Sect Leader Zhou Taiping were all standing at the edge of the Blood Essence Pool.
Every single one of them was soaking wet, faces looking extremely grim.
During this time, none of them believed the Blood Essence Crystal could fly away under their supervision, so each jumped into the Blood Essence Pool bottom to inspect.
After checking again and again, the facts proved that the Blood Essence Crystal was really stolen!
"It must be that kid from the Heavenly Sword Faction!"
Grim Elder said through gritted teeth.
Everyone wasn't foolish, knowing it was unlikely Grim Elder dared to steal the Blood Essence Crystal, and ten days ago was exactly when Mu Jinyu was cultivating in the Blood Essence Pool. If the Blood Essence Crystal wasn't stolen in the ten days after Mu Jinyu left, then it was basically stolen by Mu Jinyu!
In the eyes of everyone, the likelihood that Mu Jinyu stole it was the greatest!
"At that time, people from the Heavenly Sword Faction came with a strong presence, we all went out to deal with them, and didn't pay much attention to the Blood Essence Pool, which let that kid succeed!"
"That's certainly it. That kid was avenging us for plotting to kill him back then, so he stole the Blood Essence Crystal! Ruthless, really courting death!"
"He truly is shameless, stealing the Blood Essence Crystal and still daring to threaten us to continue providing twenty days of cultivation time. Damn it, I truly want to swallow him alive!"
The crowd discussed fiercely, gritting their teeth. If Mu Jinyu were in front of them at that moment, they'd probably pounce and tear him limb from limb!
The Great Elder, with a somber face, suddenly raised his palm and brandished it.
Suddenly, a thick hand formed by the condensation of Heaven and Earth Vital Energy brilliantly shined, slapping towards Grim Elder's face.
"Slap!"
The sound of a slap was exceptionally crisp and pleasant, causing Grim Elder to be dumbfounded on the spot, his body spinning backward, crashing through stone pavilions along the way!
"I told you not to make rash decisions!"
With the loss of the Blood Essence Crystal, the first person the Great Elder wished to condemn was indeed Mu Jinyu, but he also hated the person who orchestrated this – the Grim Elder tasked with guarding the Blood Essence Pool.
If not for the merits the other had brought to the Blood Sword Sect over the years, merely for not properly guarding the Blood Essence Crystal, the Great Elder would've slapped him into a bloody mist!
Without a glance at the thoroughly embarrassed Grim Elder, the Great Elder coldly said, "Send out the order to gather the Fanxu Realm Elders and Ninth Layer of the Divine Transformation Realm disciples, to go to the Heavenly Sword Faction!"
The Great Elder knew the likelihood that Mu Jinyu stole the Blood Essence Crystal was the largest but that there was still a one percent chance the Blood Essence Crystal wasn't stolen by him.
No matter what, given the feud between the Blood Sword Sect and Heavenly Sword Faction, combined with the impossibility of swiftly identifying other culprits, naturally they would need the Heavenly Sword Faction to provide some explanation!
...
Heavenly Sword Faction.
It's been a day since the Great Elder and Xie Chenkun brought back Mu Jinyu for Wen Rou to care for.
They observed Mu Jinyu for any signs of regaining consciousness while initiating the highest alert, recalling all disciples outside, and placing numerous Top-Quality Spirit Stones into the Energy backup storage pool of the Mountain Protection Array, ready for the Blood Sword Sect's impending confrontation!
"It's been a day, it seems he's truly struggling to wake up."
Xie Chenkun had been furrowing his brows all day, never having them relax, and after once more inquiring about Mu Jinyu's state, he sighed in the courtyard.
"Boom!!"
"Rumble!!"
Just then, the Heavenly Sword Mountain suddenly shook violently, as if a magnitude-ten earthquake, with the earth trembling and splitting, countless rock fragments crashing down in a doomsday scene.
Causing the already uneasy and fear-stricken Outer Sect Disciples of Heavenly Sword Faction to turn pale, dropping onto the ground in a panic.
"They came so quickly?!"
Xie Chenkun, feeling the intense tremors, didn't fall from his stone bench, he abruptly looked up.
He saw above the Heavenly Sword Mountain Range, a dazzling golden Protective Shield was descending like a bowl over the range, securing it as firmly as a castle, impenetrable!
It was the Mountain Protection Array of the Heavenly Sword Faction activated to its extreme defense state.
If not for such readiness, possibly the Defensive Shield would have declared its demise at the first moment of the enemy assault!